Local businesses get embezzlement warning

Friday

Sep 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Local business owners should do surprise accounting audits and get insurance for employee theft, a prosecutor said following the criminal convictions of employees caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Premier Staffing in Stockton.

Jennie Rodriguez-Moore

STOCKTON - Local business owners should do surprise accounting audits and get insurance for employee theft, a prosecutor said following the criminal convictions of employees caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Premier Staffing in Stockton.

Deputy District Attorney Stephen Taylor said the Premier accounting employees carried on their scheme for 18 months uninterrupted.

"This case was unusual in that two accounting staffers worked together to defeat controls and embezzle from their employer," Taylor wrote. "Collusion between accounting employees to embezzle greatly increases the amount that can be taken before detection."

Liliana L. Trejo and Becky M. Vochatzer are expected to be sentenced to two years in prison in December on felony charges.

Vochatzer's mother, Sandra Melton, and brother, Raymond Price, were convicted of participating in the scheme by cashing Premier checks made out in their names.

Taylor said Vochatzer and Trejo hatched the plan, cooked up company books and issued fraudulent checks to themselves and Melton and Price, authorizing them with signature stamps, from January 2011 to July 2012.

The conspirators cashed the checks at markets throughout Stockton, Taylor said.

On Sept. 5, they pleaded no contest to felony conspiracy, felony theft and felony falsification of corporate records.

Vochatzer has indicated she stole because she had a Vicodin addiction, Taylor said, in which she took 30 pills per day.

Taylor said Vochatzer has apologized for her actions and cooperated with authorities.

"It is not unusual to see such a case related to an out-of-control prescription problem," Taylor said. He said addiction is actually one of the common themes in many cases.

Vochatzer remains in the San Joaquin County Jail while Trejo is out of custody until they're sentenced to their prison terms at a hearing scheduled Dec. 2.

Price, who was sentenced to 161 days behind bars, was released from custody to a drug program recently. Taylor said Price had minimal involvement.

Melton had been incarcerated since March when she received a sentence that equaled the time she had served.

She was released last Friday, and Taylor said this allows her to care for Vochatzer's three children, who are all younger than 5.

Taylor recommends employers remain vigilant by auditing their books to catch money theft before it balloons. He also suggests employers do unscheduled rotation of duties to interrupt schemes.